‘The White Lotus’ Star Aimee Lou Wood Says Filming HBO Series Was Like Being In “A Social Experiment”

The third season of The White Lotus has already earned acclaim for Mike White’s latest exploration of the appalling behavior of the excessively privileged in stunning locations. Now, one of the series’ stars, Aimee Lou Wood, has opened up about how filming the show at a luxurious Thai resort felt like participating in a “social experiment.”

Wood, who first rose to prominence through her role in the Netflix series Sex Education, explained to The Guardian that spending seven months at The Four Seasons hotel, without any time off, wasn’t always easy for her.

“Living in a hotel, that we also film in? It was like a social experiment,” she shared.

She continued, reflecting on the experience as one she would never forget: “In a way I will never, ever forget. I will never have an experience like that again. It was so extreme. So the fun bits were unbelievable, so special. The ocean, the landscape, it was majestic. Mike [White, the director] is a genius. Everyone involved is amazing, it’s just the circumstances are quite extreme.”

Wood also recalled a moment when the line between her character and herself became blurred: “One day, I was having my hair done and Miia [Kovero, the hair and makeup artist] was, like, ‘You need to go home. I don’t know who I’m talking to any more, Aimee or Chelsea.’ I’d completely abstracted. Everyone becomes their character to an extent, but I didn’t even know who I was.”

In The White Lotus, Wood plays Chelsea, the cheerful yoga instructor dating an older man portrayed by Walton Goggins. She noted of their tense exchanges, “There’s something about Mike’s writing. Everyone always seems on the edge.”

Before The White Lotus, Wood’s breakout role was as the abused teenager Aimee Gibbs in Sex Education, her first project after graduating from drama school. Her performance earned her a BAFTA, and she told The Guardian, “We had no idea how big it was going to be.”